There was a bit of a technical glitch with the previous blog - the screenshot of the portfolio didn't work.
I've had a play-around with the settings, and I've managed to sort things out - but, unfortunately, I've lost the previous screenshot from 5th November.
As you can see, there's been a few changes.
I've sold both holdings in insurance companies - Aviva and Legal & General. As it happened, I sold LGEN too early and missed the price spike to 240p, but the SP has already slipped to under 230p. Yes, both these companies are high yield payers, but the SP in both companies is on a slow downward trajectory.
Generally, I've had a clear-out of the high yield shares: out has gone City of London IT (CTY), Lloyds Bank (LLOY), National Grid (NG.), Sirius real Estate (SRE), Taylor Woodrow (TW.), and Unilever (ULVR).
These have been replaced with cigarette companies: British American Tobacco (BATS) and Imperial Brands (IMB). Both have provided very solid gains in their SP - BATS up 10.5% and IMB up 13.7% - and they both are high yielders. I'm happy having them in the portfolio, I should have brought them in ages ago.
I've increased my holding in TP ICAP Group as momentum builds in the share price - I'm now showing 15% gains.
As a result of Trump winning the US presidency - I'm no fan of his by-the-way - I've invested a 12th of my portfolio value into the S&P 500 via iShares. I've no idea which way the US stockmarket will go, but (if it goes up substantially) I don't want to miss out.
Then there have been some speculative moves:-
Seplat (SEPL): this Nigerian oil company could be sitting on a literal "gold mine", and (fingers crossed) there should be a significant SP move in the coming couple of months.
Helium Exploration (HEX): this is risky - I've no idea about this one, and the "golden rules" of investing are don't put money into things you don't understand - but my gut feeling is that there is money to be made here.
Finally, Palantir (PLTR.US): before last month I'd not heard of this company, and then my 22yo son (he's a mathematics graduate) gets a job offer with a salary attached that makes my eyes water. This company could be the next Amazon and Tesla rolled into one.
Hopefully, the next time I post I will be reporting some substantial gains.
